A sales tax increase could be on the 2024 ballot. How would Sacramento use the money?

Sacramento residents could see another sales tax measure on the ballot in November 2024.

The measure, proposed by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, would raise the sales tax rate countywide by one half of a percentage point. A third of the revenue would be used to build affordable housing, while the remainder would be used to improve light rail, buses, sidewalks and bike lanes.

Steinberg proposed the city and county, through the Sacramento Transportation Authority, vote to place the measure on the ballot. That would require votes to place it on the ballot from the Board of Supervisors, as well as the city councils representing a majority of the county population.

“We are the capital city of the most important and dynamic state in the union,” said Steinberg Friday during a State of the City event at a new midtown affordable housing apartment complex called ARY Place. ”Today I choose to elevate a set of these challenges that are front and center for the state and nation but don’t get nearly the attention or the resources they deserve in our region, our county and our city. These challenges are literally life and death. I’m talking about climate, I’m talking about clean, affordable transportation, I’m talking about the desperate need for more housing.”

If voters approve it, the sales tax in the city of Sacramento would hit 9.25%. That would be up from 8.75% — the level it’s been at since voters approved Measure U in 2018. If a person were to spend $1 in the city, they would pay just over 9 cents in sales tax.

Sales tax in Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova would also be 9.25%. Sales tax in the rest of the county would range from 8.25% to 9.75%, according to state data.

Sales tax rate in Placer and Yolo counties are 7.25%, though some Yolo County municipalities, like Davis and West Sacramento, are higher at 8.25%.

While a 9.25% sales tax would be high for the region, it’s still lower than several Bay Area counties. Alameda County’s sales tax is 10.25%.

Because the measure would be placed on the ballot by elected officials, not by signatures, it would need to collect over 66% of the votes from residents to pass.

Last time a similar transportation measure went to the voters, in 2018, it was shy of that. In 2022, Measure A only needed 50.01%, but also fell short.

Steinberg said the new measure is significantly different due to its climate focus.

“Each past measure put a big emphasis on new roads,” Steinberg said. “Some money to fix roads, and less than half set aside for transit and safer streets ... The voters in 2022 saw right through it.”

Apartments pricey in Sacramento

The so-called Climate, Clean Transportation, and Affordable Housing Act of 2024 would raise $8 to $9 billion over 40 years, Steinberg said.

A third of the new money would be spent on transit, specifically for light rail, increasing service on existing lines, adding light rail cars, and adding Bus Rapid Transit, Steinberg said. The other third would be spent on making it easier for people to bike or walk around town instead of drive — fixing roads, improving crossings, and installing protected bike lanes similar to the new bright green barriers recently installed in midtown.

Steinberg mentioned Marysville Boulevard in North Sacramento as one “deadly” street in need of $20 million of such work.

More than 140 people killed by hit-and-run drivers in Sacramento County since 2018, a Sacramento Bee investigation found — the highest in Northern California or the Central Valley.

The last third would be spent to create more affordable housing, including units for low-income workers, students, and homeless people, Steinberg said. It would also be used to keep people in their housing through emergency rent and mortgage payments.

The average rent for a typical one-bedroom unit in the city is now about $2,300, and a two-bedroom is $3,150, according to national rental firm Apartment List. That’s more expensive than Portland, Philadelphia, Denver, Nashville and Dallas.

The city has recently been awarded for new affordable housing, such as ARY Place at 17th and S streets, but there are not nearly enough units to meet demand. The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency recently received 9,451 applications for new Mirasol Village units in the River District. Only 300 will get a spot.

Three Sacramento council members earlier this month proposed a controversial package of policies called Sacramento Forward aimed to create more affordable housing, including a ballot measure.

The three council members who proposed that package, Katie Valenzuela, Mai Vang and Caity Maple, support the measure the mayor announced, Valenzuela said.

“This is a part of what we were imagining for Sacramento Forward,” said Valenzuela, who said she has been talking to the mayor about the topic. “We may propose an additional ballot measure for housing, depending on how much housing money we think we can get through the mayor’s measure.”

Valenzuela did not specify what type of tax increase an additional ballot measure would include.